


不実 (fujitsu.)

by Yui_Miyamoto



Category: Tokyo Babylon, X -エックス- | X/1999, xxxHoLic
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on LiveJournal, Crossover, F/M, M/M, Non-Explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yui_Miyamoto/pseuds/Yui_Miyamoto
Summary: (AU-ish, Crossover) Seishirou-san has a request for Yuuko to fulfill. It will only last a night...but a lifetime to pay.
Relationships: Ichihara Yuuko/Watanuki Kimihiro, Sakurazuka Seishirou/Sumeragi Subaru
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	不実 (fujitsu.)

**Disclaimer: Tokyo Babylon and XXXHolic are the creations of the wonderful Clamp-sama. Fu-ji-tsu is by Kudoh Shizuka. Tayama Katai is the author of “The Quilt”. ******

Watashi wa machikado PIERO  
Fujitsu desu  
Hohoenda watashi wo fushigigao  
Sore wa nain jyanai?

(I’m a street-corner clown,  
an inconstancy.  
The smiling me with a mysterious face  
But that’s not how it is, isn’t it?)

******不実 (fujitsu.)  
By Miyamoto Yui** ** **

****

"Shall we?”

Somehow above Kudoh Shizuka’s melody playing on the stereo and lively conversations, he’s reading her red, red lips smiling provocatively at him. The long, raven-haired witch is dressed in a cowl neck blouse with laced sleeves, but from the back, it’s clasped with a shimmering silver butterfly, exposing her flesh until the hem of her black pants with white vertical stripes, also deceptively sheer. She downs the last of the potato shochu in her cup as her companion smiles with a nod. In a dark grey suit complimenting his broad shoulders with a black blouse and a rosewood-colored tie, the man next to her puts his cup down and stands up.  
Leaving the sticks of yakitori, remnants of salad, and cups for all the liquor they ordered (Niigata shochu, awamori, and whiskey to name a few), they both make their way to the counter. The tall dark-haired man takes out his leather wallet and pays for the meal.

On a whim, Seishirou looks around the restaurant wishing he could have brought Subaru here on a date, but there is no way he would bring him to Shinjuku Ni-choume. He’d have additional targets to go after if they ever touched him.

_It’s safer for everyone this way._

The owner thanks them for coming, especially Seishirou who is a long-time customer there. He visits on occasion for conversation or to be alone surrounded by other people, especially after a smooth and successful ‘hunt’.

They descend three flights of stairs and leave the quietness of the backstreets to again expose themselves to the rushing crowds of Meiji-dori. Across them is the entrance of Hanazono Shrine. Seishirou gives it a minute glance, looks down to the ground and purposely ignores it to hail a taxi.  
“You go there quite often, don’t you?” Yuuko asks, pointing at the shrine with the metal of her dragonfly ring flashing under the street lamp. She notes that it parallels her house, a remnant of the past somehow managing to breathe with all the business buildings surrounding it.  
“Of course. My clinic’s a few blocks from here. And Mother liked that area.”

_They never judged us there._

_/”What are you looking at, Seishirou-san?” Her hand gripped onto his tightly in the group of people crowding around them.  
He shook his head, not wanting to disturb his mother, and continued to walk up the stone path leading to the stairs. She was here to pray again even though the throng of people for the summer festival made it almost impossible to stroll up those few steps.  
“No…” As the waves of yukata walked around them, she squatted down to meet his eyes. “Tell mother what you want.”  
He pointed at the gooey soy-sauce rice balls on a skewer. He’d never seen them before, but he was enchanted by the faces that smiled after they’d eaten it.  
“We’ll get them on our way out then.”  
And so, they did. After praying and before slipping past a group of patrons who happened to come from the other side of Shinjuku. From the Metropolitan building to be exact._

_Behind them, there was a scream and Seishirou ignored it, eating his skewer with a toothy smile while running under the darkened, narrow streets with his right hand firmly clutching onto hers. From her right hand, tiny traces of blood blotted the street indiscriminately.  
His mother grinned while watching him munching with the sauce falling off his chin greedily. “My adorable baby.”  
The orchestra of police sirens played in the background…/_

“You know, your mother would be jealous.” Yuuko folds her arms, cocking her head to one side while eyeing him. She’s seen Setsuka and the Sumeragi twins’ mother as well. She also knows it’s only a matter of time until Hokuto will pay her a visit too.  
Over the years since Setsuka passed away, he’s come to her for advice and only that. Today, however, happens to be different. That’s the part that’s worrying her.  
“Yes, but we’ll see each other soon. Besides, you were the only one I could ask.”

A taxi finally arrives and the backseat door opens for them to enter.

He’s the only one of his clan, after all. Their interaction with people was limited due to the government restrictions. Their living space being secluded with the ever present sakura tree that always bloomed, regardless of the season. Its illuminations always shadowing their ‘future’, whatever that meant.

They pass signs from floors upon floors of restaurants, a museum, steel art structures, and an overpass. It is a few kilometers of tar away until they reach Yuuko’s house.

He goes to the veranda where Yuuko’s set up a soft sheet for them to sit on. He’s never been inside the house no matter how many times he’s come. It is the only stipulation she has and he’s respected it all this time.

Under the moonlight, they again resume drinking. Or rather Yuuko is drinking while Seishirou opens his suitcase, the wooden boards sighing briefly at its weight. He brings out a simple lacquer box with two drawers. Bringing it to the center, he places it carefully and pulls on the second drawer. There is a neatly folded two-toned furoshiki in rose pink and maroon with a sheen, making it appear sleek.  
He brings it to his lap and for a second, his eyelids lower halfway in introspection before he places it in front of him, unfolding it delicately to show what’s inside.

His mother’s gloves. The ones she wore to kill his father.

“You’re exchanging this?” Yuuko blinks her eyes in alarm and immediately her expression becomes serious. She’s seen many things and she’s known him for a while in this reality, but these white Meiji period gloves had the inner lining of sakura petals with their family crest. These were rumoured to exist, but of course, never seen.

“Yes,” he says, giving her a direct answer. Something he rarely (if ever) does.  
There is a radiating force calling out to her so she points to the first drawer. “Actually, I’ll take that too. Seems they’re a pair.”  
Seishirou takes a deep breath. “That is my father’s.”

But he opens the drawer anyway. The scroll is small, enough to cover the length of the drawer. It glitters with the finest paper. Instead of beige, the paper is a mixture of very fine rose gold.  
Placing it beside the gloves, his eyes meet Yuuko’s again.  
“If you’ll let me keep both, I’ll do it. But I warn you, it might not be enough.”

_This is all I truly own._

“I understand.”  
“What is it that you want?”  
He explains his unusual request and at the end of it, Yuuko touches the rim of her sake cup with her index finger. All she replies is, “Once you open this mirror, this particular dimension will close forever when you exit.”  
“That’s fine.”

******++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++** ** **

When Seishirou opens his eyes, the afternoon sun shines directly into his eyes.

Pushing himself up, he’s sitting on Yuuko’s veranda, but all the screens and doors are closed. He reaches out for his suitcase to look inside. The lacquer box is complete gone, replaced by many pages of stapled paper. He pulls up one of the documents: A translation for a novel for his future lecture.  
Then, he grabs onto a small black notebook. It turns out to be his schedule book. There is a small blue string so that he’ll open up to today’s page. It seems he’s just finished classes and had to visit this residence, but his finger lingers on the date: May 30th, 199-.

“Two years after the bet.”

He walks down the stairs and goes out the squeaky gate.

“Seishirou-san!”  
He turns to see a slightly older Subaru waving his hand, coming out of a cab and grinning with his teeth showing. “Your aunt called me to pick you up. It’s not like you to drink in the middle of the day. Well, at least during a weekday.”

_My "aunt", huh?_

“Subaru…”  
For a moment, he blinks at the eighteen-year-old boy wearing a black hat lined with white, a white ¾ sleeved waffle pattern shirt with multiple pins replacing buttons around his sternum, and charcoal gray asymmetrical culottes complete with suspenders.

_I’m used to his outfits, but he really is bewitching…_

He walks over to him, taking in the changes of the boy’s alluring features.  
“What’s wrong, Seishirou-san?”  
“Nothing.”  
They get into the taxi and drive to their apartment. Along the way, he notes that some shops have changed, but he takes another glimpse of Subaru sitting so familiarly next to him. Catching his gaze, Subaru pats his wrists, squeezes it and lets go.

_Still shy, but not painstakingly so._

Subaru gets out and Seishirou looks up at their apartment, a few blocks behind Sunshine 60.  
“You must have drunk a lot if you’re awed by everything today,” Subaru lightly chuckles.  
Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Seishirou grasps onto his arm saying, “You’ll have to lead me through today. My head kind of hurts.”  
“Oh okay,” Subaru replies sympathetically.

_Still oblivious. I like it._

He holds onto Subaru’s arm as they go into the building. Subaru slides a key through the front door and then they press a code to go up the elevator. Along the way, he leans his head on Subaru’s shoulder. Subaru taps it tenderly. “We’re almost home.”

What really stumps him is that when they get to the door of a corner apartment, Subaru doesn’t hesitate to open the door.  
“Don’t you have to tell Hokuto-chan…” Seishirou muses aloud as they step through the threshold and they both take off their shoes at the genkan.  
“She’s doing her fashion show project right now. Best not to interrupt her.”  
Subaru goes to the bedroom to get a pillow as Seishirou puts his suitcase to one side and searches around the living room. He stops at the shelves with books and pictures of the three of them. Picking up a teal frame, he sees Subaru looking up with a grin while touching the ocean water with Hokuto leaning on his back, pointing up to the sky.

He realizes he’s been smiling from the reflection of the glass.

Subaru stands behind him, hugging the pillow. “You’re acting like you’ve never seen these.”  
The older man immediately puts the frame down and turns towards the younger one, shaking his head. “I just thought how beautiful you both looked.”  
“Isn’t that why you put that there? You’re the one that insisted on it.” A flush of red again colors the top of Subaru’s cheeks.  
“But I must have thousands of pictures of you,” Seishirou teases and winks at him. “It will never be enough for me.”  
“Hai hai…” Sighing to hide his embarrassment, Subaru puts the pillow down and goes to the kitchen. When he gets back to the living room, Seishirou is lying down on the couch so he sits by him, giving him the cup of water in his hand.  
Getting up again, Seishirou sits up to drink it and without hesitation, Subaru massages his temples, pushing his fingertips in and thumbs circling against his forehead.

That’s when he finally notices that he has no gloves.

_He isn’t my prey._

The fact hits him like a gentle rain of disappointment, but it quickly strangles his throat in jealousy. Dull pangs of resentment crush his chest, his body struggling to react to the loss.

There’s no proof of his claim anymore.

He winces and Subaru thinks he’s pressing too hard so he loosens the pressure. But he somehow feels Seishirou become depressed all of a sudden. He tilts his head while watching his face carefully, the eyes closed. Letting go, Seishirou opens them and positions himself to lie down.  
“Why were you drinking so early anyway?” Subaru asks as Seishirou fully stretches out on the couch, holding Subaru’s hands against his chest.  
“I wanted to talk with her. Besides, you know how my aunt is.”  
“True…” Subaru is only half-convinced, but doesn’t press the subject any further. “I…never mind. I’ll just tell you later. I better get dinner ready.”

On the couch, Seishirou looks at the clock on the wall. At about this time, he’d be ready to close the clinic and get his “assignment” to fulfill. It is strange to have time to think, to breathe…

_To live normally. Something that others do not even give a second thought to._

Reaching out for the remote, he’s not familiar with the channels even though he voraciously reads the newspapers. He grimaces at the variety shows and doesn’t quite understand the dramas. It is like before: Observing but not really immersing.

At some point, through channel flipping and reading, Subaru comes out of the kitchen.

They go to the kitchen and Seishirou sees three tablecloths with three sets of chopsticks. One bowl of miso ramen and one bowl of soy are set across one another. There are three cups, but only two with tea in them.  
Sitting down, he’s impressed with what Subaru’s cooked.  
After his mother’s passing, besides the occasional meeting with old classmates or business transactions, he’s only eaten with Subaru and Hokuto. As if they’re a family.

Bowing their heads, they both say, “Itadakimasu” and start eating.

Without a word, he tastes each rich bite, noticing the taste tantalizing his tongue. He’s never cared for whatever there was, only that it would keep him alive.

The doubt sinks in deeper.

_Is this what lies on the other side of the mirror? What I always tapped on, but never wanted to walk through?_

“So, how was your day today?” Seishirou asks with the chopsticks on his lips and then reaches for a boiled egg.  
Subaru looks down at the table. “I don’t know how to describe today’s shigoto…it’s strange.”  
At this, Seishirou’s eyebrow slightly raises, but Subaru doesn’t notice.

_He’s still an onmyouji._

“At the end of it, I really wanted to see you. But you weren’t answering your phone so I called your aunt.”  
“Oh?” He places his chopsticks down. “What happened?”

“There was a spirit stuck inside an apartment building in Musashi-Sakai because of a suicide. The owner said the residents were ‘seeing’ things and she’d called priests and everything she could think of until they contacted my family.  
“I found the spirit on the staircase leading down to the basement. He was gentle and the reason why he wouldn’t leave was that he was waiting for a Brazilian woman to come back to him. And…he didn’t know he was dead so I was trying to reason with him that he had to move on, but as you know, that doesn’t always happen so smoothly.”  
“Did he move on?”  
His wide eyes looked up and across the table, shaking his head. “The reason he didn’t move on was because he’d been stabbed in his sleep. And the room itself was unoccupied so he wasn’t consciously aware of it, or was in complete denial.”  
“Wait. You said that he’d committed suicide, but he was actually murdered?”  
“I saw the stab wounds on his back.”  
“Who told you he’d committed suicide?”

“The owner. She was the only person who was living there at the time. It was ten years ago. I was about to confront her, but she saw a glimpse of him and she was holding a knife in her hand to silence me. Luckily, while I was pushing her back and shielding the spirit, a resident came to call the police.  
“Apparently, the owner was in love with him and murdered him. She ignored his ‘presence’ so that he’d stay bound there, but the residents and neighbors were complaining about the property so she had to do something. And she called me so that she could see him again and also bury her crime along with me.”

“What happened to the guy then?”  
“I had to convince him that he’d passed away, and that he had to go to the other realm. He said he’d do it only if I’d write a letter to her and send it off. So I did. Then I called you and your aunt.”

 _The equivalent. If he’s still an onmyouji here, then there’s someone else who’s taken my title…_  
For the first time, Seishirou feels fear encroach his heart.

“But you wanted to see me after all that?” Half of his ramen remained uneaten before him.  
“Somehow, he didn’t even realize he’d physically died, but his heart kept on living for his promise. I don’t know why, but it hit me harder than usual. It’s a typical love story if I had to put it that way. But it’s like I felt that somewhere…I don’t know how to describe it.” Subaru gulped, completely overwhelmed by the experience as it passed through his eyes in memory.

_Entering his carefully designed glass heart, why does he make broken pieces so easy to put back together? Instead of the ugliness of self-protection, fear, and anger, he mends it all over with this ‘compassion’._

_Won’t he crumble under the pressure of all that pain? I’ve always wondered since we met in Ueno._

Interrupting the silence, Subaru honestly questions, “If...if you ever go...you would tell me, right?”  
“What a strange question to ask.”  
Subaru sighs and his eyes lower, lips pursing. “Just as elusive as ever.”

_So that has not changed about me in this reality._

They both eat quietly, each withdrawing into their own thoughts until there’s a ring at the door.

Ping pong!  
It’s followed up with a tap taptaptap tap tap tap!

Seishirou can’t help but chuckle at the knocking as Subaru finally opens the door to let his sister in.

“Subaru~!”  
Getting up to go over to them, Seishirou sees Hokuto glomp Subaru while Subaru pats his sister softly, resolved to the fact that even if they did this every day, his sister never let up. For if he even hinted at not wanting a hug, she’d humph and never let him forget it. He never attempted to find out the consequences of such an action.  
Seishirou waves at her at the genkan. “You’re finally home.”  
“Not for long. I’ve still got to go back to help with the sewing!”  
Hokuto, dressed top-notch as usual, waves with a big smile while taking off her shoes. With sunglasses on her head, she has a white crepe-like sleeveless chiffon top, the turtleneck-like collar scrounging around her neck delicately to reveal one stud amythest earring attached to its gold cuff at the top of her ear. Her short white skirt wraps around her waist snuggly, with an extra flap at that top to button, a safety pin like her brother’s. Mimicking the waffle print of her brother’s shirt, the skirt has thin black stripes over the white.  
Looking down, he sees the two-inch red heels, complete with ankle straps, crossing over in an x from toe to ankle.

They go back to the kitchen together.

“Killing the bystanders, I see…” Seishirou comments as she comes to hug him from behind when he sits down.  
“Nothing wrong with flirting with your eyes.” She winks. “Besides I’ve got to showcase the quality I want.”  
“Then there’s a lot,” Seishirou retorts back with a smirk.  
“You bet!” She knocks her head playfully towards Seishirou’s before letting go.  
He shakes his head as he watches Hokuto get her bowl from the cupboard and takes her portion from the stove.

_Always a firecracker, isn’t she?_

“Sorry I’m late, but I’m glad they let me go so that I could eat.” She crosses over to sit with them on the white table.  
“So how is the fashion show going? When is it anyway, Onee-chan?” Subaru starts to eat once more because his sister is there.  
“It’s next Saturday, but we’re not even finished with half of the outfits. The models all have different schedules.” She says grace and then starts eating. “Well, that’s what I get for recruiting random people off the street.”  
Seishirou eats some of his char siu and swallows. “They’re not students?”  
She shakes her head. “Nope. I wanted people from all walks of life. I wanted to make something that matched them, not fit them to what I wanted to make.”  
“That’s a big venture.”  
Hokuto slurps a bit of her soup and then nods, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “That’s the challenge I wanted though.”  
“What’s the inspiration for this one?” Subaru finishes his bowl and places his hands over his lap.  
“I wanted to show someone how I saw life around Tokyo.”  
There is a sparkle there that even Subaru can’t ignore. “Is it that person you were talking about the other day?”  
“Yes.”  
“What is his name?”  
She sighs and shakes her head, biting her lips from the inside. Bittersweetly, Hokuto answers, “Kakyou. I don’t even know if it’s his first or last name. I always see him walking by the college entrance, but we’ve only conversed one time. It’s like he disappears when I turn around. That’s why I thought if I did this, I’d be able to talk to him again.”  
“Do you think he’ll come?” Seishirou also finishes and bows his head a bit.

_Kakyou-san…oh, so he’s related to Hokuto in some way…_

Smiling widely at both of them, she nods. “My gut feeling tells me he’ll show up.”

**++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++**

After hugging them goodbye, she gives a quick kiss on each of their cheeks. Well, not without threatening, "If he's still mad tomorrow, you'll hear from me." With a polite smile, a tilting head and a finger teasing to slit Seishirou's neck, she says this when Subaru's not within earshot. Seishirou pulls on his collar.  
She then goes on her merry way, running down one floor to her apartment and leaves the building.

_So we’re the ones who live here. That’s…progress. No wonder he wasn’t fazed by where everything was._

While Seishirou is washing the dishes, Subaru peruses a book in the living room. Trying to forget his frustration at Seishirou’s response and wash away the muddled feelings still dredged inside of him from that shigoto, he takes in the refreshing breath of the story in between his hands, comforted by the fact that it’s fiction. It is about a man obsessed over a young female apprentice who is falling for someone else.  
Seishirou comes into the room, but notices that the book he’s reading is an author from his university lectures.

_Tayama Katai, huh? I wonder if this is how we met..._   
_But even here, he’s reading about people who can’t be together. The irony doesn’t escape me._

Silently, he plops his head on Subaru’s lap, pressing the back of his head onto his thighs. He likes that they have more muscle than before.  
“Seishirou-san, what are you doing there?” Closing his book, he laughs a bit.  
“Quite comfortable here.”  
“You’ve already forgotten. I’m still mad at you.”  
“Oh, I know.” Seishirou takes the book and places it on the table in front of them.

_No matter what, there’s no way around you not to be angry with me._

Lifting up his hand, he touches Subaru’s face. “So why do you keep forgiving me, Subaru-kun?”

Subaru’s lips part as his eyes open a little in shock. The way Seishirou is watching him makes him nervous. To him, Seishirou is always calm and collected, never letting things ripple out of control. But today, he sees something else emanating from those eyes: The darkness hitting the surface of the light, but being swallowed by it instead, only drowning again in its abyss.

Maybe that’s what had attracted him to this man in the first place. He knew he couldn’t completely have him.

“You’re acting so odd today.” Holding his hand against his cheek, he knows he can’t stay irritated with him for too long.  
“How so?”  
“You’re not teasing me as much as you usually do.” Subaru lets go of his hand.  
Seishirou puts his hand down and leans his head a bit to his right, answering in a seducing tone with a knowing grin, “Oh, so you’re asking me for more?”

Yup, that smile always kills him. It’s the tickling in his heart, the anticipation of what he’d do…that is what keeps him from getting too upset. No one else makes his heart break or flutter the way he does, always keeping him guessing…

Again, he’s staring into Subaru’s face, which is turning red, but doesn’t shrink away from his touch.  
Pouting, Subaru looks to the ceiling and mumbles, “Sometimes, I think you should wear yellow caution tape to warn people of what you really are.”

The young man clears his throat, his face now burning along with the older man’s hand rubbing his spine.

Raising an eyebrow, he never thought Subaru would try to contend with him. It entices him to grab hold of his waist. He whispers, “And what is that, pray tell?”  
He really wants to hear him say it. His eyes start to twinkle darkly.

“That you’re dangerous.” He places Seishirou’s hand over his heart and looks at him gently. “But only on the outside.”  
“So what of the inside?”  
“I don’t know,” Subaru says with uncertainty, glancing elsewhere, but then looks straight into his eyes again. “But that’s only for me to know, isn’t it?”  
“Even if I don’t answer all your questions?”  
“What you say and what you do are always in conflict. Even if you lied to me, you wouldn’t be able to keep it for too long.”  
“I wouldn’t?”

His mind goes down the list of times he put him to sleep, erased his memories, purposely edged away from being caught in what he believed what was his stone-faced, ‘true’ personality.

“You would never hurt me intentionally.”

He knows he isn’t capable of selflessness. Everything has an equivalent, an exact price to be paid. He’d never do anything for free or taking what he could get out of it.

Scoffing at the idea, his tone echoes the gravity of his inquiry, “How can you be so sure?”  
“Because I believe in you. More than you for yourself.”

_He never changes. Always gentle no matter what reality we live in._

“I could take advantage of your naiveté for the rest of your life.”  
“You’d never break me though.”  
“I’d try, you do know that.”  
“That’s fine. As long as you stay with me.”

There is a tinge of possessiveness inside of this response that parallels his own.

_Ah, I get it. So the pressure…it doesn’t disintegrate. It creates a diamond..._   
_…solidifying his purity._

_That’s why it’s so hard to fight him. He loves with all of himself._

Subaru gasps a bit, stunned as he looks at him.  
“What?”  
“This is the first time you’ve smiled like that.”

Seishirou can’t see his own visage, but he feels the warmth caressing him, the illusion of affection that was always just out of his reach. It is so overwhelming that he continues to look at Subaru’s face, wanting to absorb it for all that it’s worth.  
He runs his fingers through Subaru’s fine hair. “If I ever asked you to run away with me, would you?”  
“I’d bring Hokuto-chan with us, but yes.”  
“You answer that so easily.”  
“Why would I think twice?”

And for a moment, Seishirou holds his breath.

_You stupid boy…_   
_I wonder when you implanted ‘hope’ into my system, poisoning me forever…_

He reaches out for the lamp and pulls on the cord. Sitting up, he slides off the couch and kneels before Subaru, placing his head on his thighs again and hugging his lower back.

_Your wishes are my lies. My truths are all the insincerities. For now, let me believe this contorted truth._

“Are you disappointed by what I said, Seishirou-san?” Subaru whispers in the darkness, looking down at Seishirou. He’s now the one running his fingers through his hair.  
The older man doesn’t say anything as he starts to untuck his shirt, placing his hands under them, greedily seizing his hips. Instantly, Subaru’s muscles tense up, but Seishirou slightly lifts up the shirt, kissing his stomach. Subaru holds his breath, panicking as his heart speeds from 90 to 150 beats in a manner of seconds. But he lightly hugs him, pushing his head further in, the tongue pressing and going up until he reaches his right nipple, sucking and playing with it with his tongue.  
Gasping, Subaru shudders, fully feeling the sensation wash over in waves. His eyes are closed shut as he holds Seishirou a bit more. But Seishirou comes out from beneath the shirt, drinking in Subaru’s flushed face.

_It’s not even the beginning._

He puts one knee on the couch cushion, while leaning down to push through Subaru’s lips and kiss them. His hands unbuttoning the culottes until they both take another breath to kiss again.  
“Mmph~!” Subaru shouts into his mouth as Seishirou’s reaches under, kneading and rubbing him while he wants to close his thighs, but it only makes the older man tease him more.  
Subaru tries to pull away to breathe, but Seishirou won’t let him. He guides his hands to undo his pants button and zipper…

Their shirts and culottes are on the ground, suspenders hang off the other chair and only pants around Seishirou’s knees, in the darkness, they grasp desperately for one another. Gasping for breath, Subaru is completely naked, his back against the coach with legs apart, holding onto Seishirou’s back as Seishirou bites his shoulder.

Deeper and deeper, Seishirou cannot get enough. Subaru’s breath on his skin. His scent pressing onto his whole body, exchanging invisible marks of possession over one another. Their hearts pushing into each other’s ribs, reaching for one another like they always do.

_It’s not enough._

In between ragged murmurings, Subaru kisses Seishirou’s hair. But he starts to shiver even harder as the rhythm of their bodies goes faster.  
“Sei-” His breathing clips, a high pitched noise leaving his lips instead.

But Seishirou doesn’t really notice as he glances at Subaru again, kissing him again, grazing his tongue over the top of the tongue and pressing onto it.  
A sense of peace he’s never felt before slips inside his bones. From years of looking behind his back, looking to the future to all the destruction, especially between him and the person in his arms, he never thought serenity would settle in the middle of all the entropy.

Reaching climax, Seishirou knows this is what he’s been searching for.

_I want to be with you more. Spend all my time with you,_   
_Immerse until we’re one soul,_   
_Never having to separate again._

_It’s too painful._

As if hearing his thoughts, Subaru clings onto him, running his knuckles against Seishirou’s wet cheeks…

Later that night, while holding onto Subaru in bed, Seishirou watches his face once more. The same face that he put to sleep when he was a child in Ueno and deceived.

_Even here, we’re bound together. But are you happier this way, Subaru-kun?_

**++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++**

When he wakes up, Seishirou is back on Yuuko’s veranda. The request has been fulfilled.

It is daybreak with the sun barely winking in the sky and she is standing by the sliding door with the mirror. It breaks and he has no words for what he feels.

They bow their heads to one another. She goes into her house with Maru and Moro waiting as he sets out the gate to meet Subaru and Hokuto.

Later on that day, in hysterics, a woman holds up a knife and in that second, he intercedes before the blade reaches Subaru’s body. He feels the full force of his eye being sliced, excruciatingly cut open. Holding the hollowness as blood spatters between the crevices of his fingers, he knows that this is part of the price for his request: Soul for soul.

_So this is what she meant._

There is a commotion, but he’s somehow detached, watching ‘himself’ through someone else’s life.  
Somehow he knows though that there is still more to pay. He has to wait until the ‘end’…

His, Subaru’s and Hokuto’s year of suspended bliss is nearly up.

**++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++**

In the year 20XX, during the reconstruction of Tokyo…

Watanuki picks up an item that’s dropped from one of the ‘important’ shelves. It is the one that Yuuko describes as extra valuable so they have to dust it every single day without fail.  
It glows as it unravels on the tatami floor.

“Turning around,  
I hold my hands in fists,  
Running with all might  
To get away from you.

Down this hall of white,  
I shake my head  
In disbelief.  
The static in my ears,  
All the voices meshing  
Into unrecognizable commands,  
My body no longer recognizes  
The voice I’ve always  
carried as my own.

My instinct’s been stripped away,  
The hunter  
becomes hunted,  
My footprints leaving  
Blood tracks behind me  
For you to clearly find me.

I don’t want to be here anymore,  
The trap’s set  
With only my sanity

Left to go,

Always loving you the best  
So much so.”

“To Setsuka...” Watanuki reads aloud.

As he wraps it, the parchment gives off a faint smell of cherry blossoms and blood, but he can’t quite understand how these two differing things can give off such a sweet scent.

Yuuko comes to the room, squatting down to watch him with a grin. He’s on his knees rolling the calligraphy.  
“Exquisite, isn’t it?”  
“What is it?”  
“A marriage proposal.”  
Watanuki gives her a curious look, but Yuuko reaches out to touch his head, sliding her nails against his cheek. “Is it that weird?”  
“It’s quite…violent to be what you just said.” He blushes because it tickles. Yuuko’s touch never fails to raise his blood temperature.  
“Oh.”  
“To each their own,” Watanuki comments without a second thought.

When she’s about to get up, her thumb brushes against his mouth with a bit of a jam.  
“Hey!” he protests.  
“I came here for you to try your own cherry pie. You didn’t taste the filling.”  
“Yes I did!” He puckers his lips, tasting the intensity of his own creation. “It’s much better than I thought…”  
She tastes her thumb and her expression lights up happily, “Ah much better. Needed more sugar there.”  
“Yuuko-san~!”  
Laughing, she winks at him while eyeing the glistening red on the table between Maru and Moro. They place their hands over their mouths, giggling at him.

**++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++**

A few hours later, as Subaru looks at the calendar that says “November 22nd”, there is a knock on the door.

Watanuki waves his hand nervously and then holds out a small package to him. “I have a delivery from Yuuko-san’s shop.”  
“Hmm? Okay.” Subaru bows his head. “You must be new.”  
Watanuki blinks. “I guess?”

He gives the parchment to the older man’s hands. “From someone named Sakurazuka Seishirou.”  
His mismatched eyes open in surprise and a gasp comes from his lips.  
“The parchment comes with this note.”  
“Thank you.”

When the delivery boy leaves, Subaru opens to read the incredibly beautiful writing and gives it a confused look, tracing his fingers on the paper. But he takes his hand away to open the envelope, a polished and intricate golden watch drops to his lap and he starts to cry when he reads the note.

He immediately darts out, never hesitating or looking back. Clasping onto the watch tightly in his hand, he can’t get to Yuuko-san’s shop fast enough.

Written from top to bottom like a poem, the note says in elegant kanji:  
 _“Run away with me, Subaru-kun.”_

**Owari. / The End.**

**Author's Note:**

> My favorite restaurant in all of Tokyo is in Ni-choume. The owner and chef are wonderful people and the food is superb.  
> And yeah, I don’t think I’ve said this in fics before, but I love clothes. ^^;;; --;;; I will not buy the same design twice. It gets harder as time goes by.
> 
> The song at the beginning is Fu-ji-tsu by Kudoh Shizuka. From the time I first heard it about 12 years ago, I always associated it with Seishirou-san. So whenever I listen or sing it, I instantly think of him. Even as I wrote this, it suddenly popped into my head. (It’s from 1988. There are two versions, as far as I know, from the discs I own. I rather like the first one though there are only minor differences/nuances between both.) These are the original lyrics and I tried to translate it as best as I could:  
> 私は街角ピエロ  
> 不実です 微笑ほほえんだ私を不思議顔  
> それはないんじゃない？
> 
> I know it’s a strange fic, but I really wanted to see Seishirou smile for once, a genuine fluid laughter because Subaru will always be the apple of his eye. And a dimension where even he outwardly displays his doubt.
> 
> It’s been so long since I’ve made a fic for them, but I was in the mood for their bittersweet love. I was aching, crying, and smiling all at the same time making this. Ah, this couple never fails to tickle my heart, despite all the twistedness. No matter what, they will always be my favorite pairing across all boards next to Ryu and Tatsu of Gravi.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! :) I don’t know why, but this fic makes my heart smile despite everything. You have no idea how excited I was while writing this, but I do hope it came through.
> 
> Love always,  
> Yui
> 
> According to Jim Breen’s Japanese dictionary, 不実 (fujitsu) means “perfidiousness; faithlessness; inconstancy; insincerity; falsehood.”


End file.
